I'd qualify that and say NASA decided not to spend (precious) fuel on "parking" it in a more stable orbit. But the trade-off would be either a shorter "active" mission or observations not as close to the planet.
Obviously getting the most science from the probe trumps other issues such as museum pieces for great great great grandchildren. I'd slap them myself if they shorted current science to "save" the probe for future museums.
Note that they sometimes decide on a "controlled" crash to reduce biological contamination risk to a planet or moon. But I don't think that's the case here.
they could have left it in an eternal orbit if they wanted too
I believe some reaction between the Sun and Mercury gradually degrades orbits of probes in the area. Being that close to the Sun makes the effect fairly large.
It may be true that if they had a bigger orbit it may have been able to stay in orbit a long time. But, scientists wanted to get closer to the planet for more detailed observations.
It's probably not a big concern anyhow because the probe would typically run out of instrument orientation fuel after a few years, unless you spend more to launch bigger tanks.
But, being Mercury is mostly a "dead" world, you are not going to see many new things after a couple of years in orbit such that "lingering" a good while may not be cost effective. If you were studying the atmosphere of say Venus or Jupiter, then lingering makes more sense because the weather patterns are always changing.
They should simplify life and call it Voyager 3 or the like. That way we are not paying bureaucrats to concoct goofy acronyms that look like the Spail Chekker puked.
I realize that an aerospace contractor may have been the ones who dreamed it up, but they are still passing the cost of word-smithing on to the government indirectly because they expect to recover that salary through the income of future contacts.
a subset of the geek population that is quiet, thoughtful, polite, reasonably socially adept, extremely smart, and devoted to the mission over their own personal gain
All the orgs I've worked for filters most of those guys out.
Technical discussions always degenerated into dick waving arguments. They were more interested in getting *their* solution jammed through for a personal victory than the greater good. It was disgusting.
How is this different from any workplace loaded with geeks? "Tool X is has better flux capacity and washes dishes while juggling. You are using obsolete crap."
2/3 of the time they just want to use Tool X to get resume experience in it to move on to better-paying buzzword suckers, leaving their steaming experiment to others.
Good level-headed managers are needed to tame them and find compromises. Otherwise they'll rewrite the company's internal toilet paper tracking system in NodeJS using Hadoop on their brother-in-law's "cloud".
It's worth noting there's a school of educational research suggesting that introducing young children to high technology is actively bad
That's gotta be hogwash. Too much is probably bad, yes, but it's good to expose young kids to a wide variety of tools and techniques. I've seen studies that showed the wider the variety of toys young kids are exposed to, the better they later do in school.
Yeah, they are standing in line to visit the IT department. I believe the Clown Department would have more visitors. Clowns usually have people skills.
And in Big Bang, the audience is laughing their south ends off at how socially awkward the nerds are. Clowns can be popular, but that doesn't mean you'd PERSONALLY like to hang around clowns.
A hopping "flyer" is certainly an interesting idea, but it seems kind of risky. Landings carry too much risk in my opinion.
I would instead opt for a "beefy" lander with good chemistry tools, but maybe with a secondary balloon-based drone to take a look around, and perhaps bring back samples to the main lander. If the drone gets in a wreck, the main lander still exists.
If you're obese or out of shape, I guess. For the rest of us, a walking tour is good exercise.
Perhaps, but I'm getting older and walking becomes ever more uncomfortable as my feet and legs get older. The warranty is expiring on everything and the parts just don't like the pounding. I should probably be a good boy and just "man up" and accept the discomfort for health reasons, but why have modern conveniences if you can't use them?
Discipline Smischipline! And git your Segway off my lawn!
It was supposed to change the world, but it didn't.
It might this time. Chinese manufacturers may find a way to bring the price down enough to make them so common that they lose their stigma and are affordable to a larger audience.
They could even create a commuting revolution by solving the "last mile" problem with public transportation. If you can rent them easily then you don't have to haul them on and off the bus/tram.
Slashdot Mirror
You mean Gayzilla [snicker snort giggle]
Equal Opportunity Outsourcing
Booyah!
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/...
You're gonna raise some really screwed up kids ... but screwed up in an interesting way.
Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac?
He stayed up all night wondering if there is a Dog.
If this keeps up, there may someday be a huge ring around Saturn.
I'd qualify that and say NASA decided not to spend (precious) fuel on "parking" it in a more stable orbit. But the trade-off would be either a shorter "active" mission or observations not as close to the planet.
Obviously getting the most science from the probe trumps other issues such as museum pieces for great great great grandchildren. I'd slap them myself if they shorted current science to "save" the probe for future museums.
Note that they sometimes decide on a "controlled" crash to reduce biological contamination risk to a planet or moon. But I don't think that's the case here.
Mariners went to Mars also. Thus, "direction" doesn't appear to be the criteria. I was just using a quick and dirty example anyhow.
I believe some reaction between the Sun and Mercury gradually degrades orbits of probes in the area. Being that close to the Sun makes the effect fairly large.
It may be true that if they had a bigger orbit it may have been able to stay in orbit a long time. But, scientists wanted to get closer to the planet for more detailed observations.
It's probably not a big concern anyhow because the probe would typically run out of instrument orientation fuel after a few years, unless you spend more to launch bigger tanks.
But, being Mercury is mostly a "dead" world, you are not going to see many new things after a couple of years in orbit such that "lingering" a good while may not be cost effective. If you were studying the atmosphere of say Venus or Jupiter, then lingering makes more sense because the weather patterns are always changing.
Correction: "future contracts"
They should simplify life and call it Voyager 3 or the like. That way we are not paying bureaucrats to concoct goofy acronyms that look like the Spail Chekker puked.
I realize that an aerospace contractor may have been the ones who dreamed it up, but they are still passing the cost of word-smithing on to the government indirectly because they expect to recover that salary through the income of future contacts.
They will declare such cells "corporations" to give them legal personhood
"Oh look, wavy tiramisu! They won't notice if I give some to my pals..."
All the orgs I've worked for filters most of those guys out.
How is that different from a cross-word puzzle?
How is this different from any workplace loaded with geeks? "Tool X is has better flux capacity and washes dishes while juggling. You are using obsolete crap."
2/3 of the time they just want to use Tool X to get resume experience in it to move on to better-paying buzzword suckers, leaving their steaming experiment to others.
Good level-headed managers are needed to tame them and find compromises. Otherwise they'll rewrite the company's internal toilet paper tracking system in NodeJS using Hadoop on their brother-in-law's "cloud".
That's gotta be hogwash. Too much is probably bad, yes, but it's good to expose young kids to a wide variety of tools and techniques. I've seen studies that showed the wider the variety of toys young kids are exposed to, the better they later do in school.
And remember, bad software teaches patience.
Yeah, they are standing in line to visit the IT department. I believe the Clown Department would have more visitors. Clowns usually have people skills.
And in Big Bang, the audience is laughing their south ends off at how socially awkward the nerds are. Clowns can be popular, but that doesn't mean you'd PERSONALLY like to hang around clowns.
Californians are capable of learning how to use a real rain coat. It may take us a while, but we'll learn.
A hopping "flyer" is certainly an interesting idea, but it seems kind of risky. Landings carry too much risk in my opinion.
I would instead opt for a "beefy" lander with good chemistry tools, but maybe with a secondary balloon-based drone to take a look around, and perhaps bring back samples to the main lander. If the drone gets in a wreck, the main lander still exists.
What works in southern states may not work in Washington state.
He has to in order to keep his job (unless he lets himself go to play Jabba).
Perhaps, but I'm getting older and walking becomes ever more uncomfortable as my feet and legs get older. The warranty is expiring on everything and the parts just don't like the pounding. I should probably be a good boy and just "man up" and accept the discomfort for health reasons, but why have modern conveniences if you can't use them?
Discipline Smischipline! And git your Segway off my lawn!
It might this time. Chinese manufacturers may find a way to bring the price down enough to make them so common that they lose their stigma and are affordable to a larger audience.
They could even create a commuting revolution by solving the "last mile" problem with public transportation. If you can rent them easily then you don't have to haul them on and off the bus/tram.